[Updated 12/11] Mason County Shellfish Expansion: 18 Exemptions Issued for New Geoduck Farms/Shelton's Public Hearing on Boathouse Conversions

[Update 12/11: Shoreline Permit exemptions have been approved for Steve Wilson. County online records do not show those for Seattle Shellfish, Taylor Shellfish, or Matt Smith's Trident Marine Services have yet been issued or approved, only received. As seen in the 12/12 post, Taylor's Fudge Point geoduck farms were installed in May of this year.]

Shellfish Industry's Ongoing Expansion Into

Puget Sound's Mason County

Geoduck farms exempt from shoreline permits
Mason County has issued 18 exemptions for new geoduck farms this year. Four have been issued to Steve Wilson, one to Seattle Shellfish, six to Matt Smith, and seven to Taylor Shellfish. In addition to the exemptions, the Corps of Engineers and Department of Ecology must also issue authorizations which, in some cases, have been issued. In some cases unauthorized actions were taken requiring removal of structures from the tidelands.

 

Unauthorized placement of sandbags

by Matt Smith's Trident Marine Services.

The Corps required them to be removed.



Boathouse conversion to shellfish "FLUPSY's" to growout shellfish
Permit Hearing: December 16, 10AM
City of Shelton Civic Center
525 West Cota Street, Shelton, WA
Contact: Jason Dose, 360-432-5102, : jasond@ci.shelton.wa.us

"Lizzie Nelson [Capital Aquaculture Consulting] said she would operate out of all boathouses but knows that might not be fair." Presentation to Port of Shelton, June 4, 2013 )
"...doesn't think the Port should convert the marina into this but instead expand to allow the commercial operations." Citizen comment
"Suggested contacting Simpson to see if their tidelots could be used for FLUPSY operations." Citizen comment

In addition to the exempted geoduck farms the shellfish industry has now proposed to expand further its conversion of boathouses in the Oakland Bay marina to shellfish grow-out facilities. Through the use of "FLUPSY's" (floating upweller system) the boathouses would be converted to facilities used to growout shellfish to a larger size before planting. John Lentz had commented on an earlier permit proposal that so doing could increase hatchery efficiency 10 fold, increasing hatchery "output" from "70 million to 700" million shellfish (February 8, 2013). Citizens have already expressed concerns that the conversion to commercial use of the already limited space in the marina should be dealt with by either expanding the marina into a separate commercial section or using adjacent tideland areas already being used.

Chelsea Farm's Earlier Proposed Conversion

 

Existing FLUPSY's north of marina.